The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority has published gazette notices confirming that the Financial Institutions and Markets Act, 2021 and the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority Act, 2021 came into operation on 1 May 2026. Both commencement notices contain limited carve-outs, mainly for Adjudicator-related definitions and references, alongside a small number of specified provisions in the Financial Institutions and Markets Act. The package also includes regulations under the Financial Institutions and Markets Act that operationalise the new framework across insurance, financial markets, retirement funds, friendly societies, medical aid funds and financial intermediaries. The regulations introduce a micro-insurance regime, including product eligibility rules, plain-language requirements, prior submission of new products to NAMFISA and benefit thresholds that are generally capped at N$1,000 to N$25,000 for most life and non-life micro-insurance classes, with a higher N$100,000 to N$2.5 million band for miscellaneous non-life cover. They also define the boundary between health insurance and medical aid business by specifying health policies that are excluded from medical aid fund business, restricting policy terms and marketing, requiring prominent disclosures that insurance cover is not a substitute for medical aid, and requiring advance summaries for new health products. For financial markets, the rules define money market instruments and credit quality assessment standards, set the maximum penalty for non-compliance by a self-regulatory organisation at N$5,000,000 and set interest on insider-trading civil liability at twice the Bank of Namibia repurchase rate. For retirement funds, they set approval conditions for actuarial surplus distributions, require interest on delayed transfer values and overdue contributions at the repurchase rate plus 4%, and allow certain member housing loans subject to security, valuation and pricing conditions including interest at the repurchase rate plus 2.5%. Friendly societies and medical aid funds are subject to detailed investment concentration limits, a minimum 45% domestic asset requirement and quarterly investment reporting, while general provisions set 20% annual interest on late renewal fees for specified financial intermediaries.

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